Beyond InformationExploring Patients' Preferences

Author Affiliations: Departments of Family Medicine, Psychiatry, and Oncology, Rochester Center to Improve Communication in Health Care, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York (Dr Epstein); and Decision Research, University of Oregon, Eugene (Dr Peters).

The Institute of Medicine considers patient-centered care (“care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs and values”1(p6)) to be a foundation of high-quality health care, along with effectiveness, safety, efficiency, timeliness, and equity. Patient-centered care is empirically based and promotes respect and patient autonomy; it is considered an end in itself, not merely a means to achieve other health outcomes.2